A Wet Welcome from Hurricane Irene

When Hurricane Irene was scheduled to hit New Hampshire on the last weekend of August, 2011, not many people anticipated much wreckage or calamity and certainly not a full-fledged state of emergency. Some wind gusts, a few trees down, an hour or so without electricity; a glorified summer storm was what most had in mind.  For Plymouth State University students, an extra day of summer vacation was just in reach. Bring it on, Irene.

But as the rain continued to fall, and the Pemigewasset bloated and swelled, the grave reality of the tropical storm finally dawned on members of the Plymouth and Holderness communities. Within hours, the river had essentially erupted from its banks.

The hurricane resulted in the worst flooding in Plymouth and Holderness in decades. According to the National Weather Service, the waters levels after the hurricane were the 7th highest on record. If you weren't here to witness the flooding, just know that the gas pumps at the Irving station were completely submerged, and that the only means of navigation through lower Holderness was by boat.

Located on the Holderness side of the PSU campus, the Physical Plant building and the new Ice Arena and Welcome Center were among the buildings that were hit hard by the hurricane.

According to Tammy Hill, the Environmental Health and Safety Manager for PSU, the Ice Arena suffered about four inches of water on the ground floor. "The ice was damaged when the flood water entered the rink, so the ice sheet had to be removed," said Hill.

 "Some flooring, such as carpet in the main entry and some sheetrock walls in and near the main entry were also damaged."

When the Ice Arena and Welcome Center were in the planning phases just a few years ago, precautions were made to prevent such flooding from compromising the building. The appropriate sources could not be reached to confirm exactly what those structural precautions were. The building, however, was clearly not designed to accommodate such overwhelming water levels, and thus the newest addition to the Plymouth campus is undergoing costly repairs hardly a year after opening.

But the Ice Arena and Welcome Center did not suffer the worst damage due to the hurricane. Its much more modest-in-size neighbor, the Physical Plant Headquarters, was devastated by the flooding. Almost three weeks after the storm, the entire first floor of the building (which is comprised only of two floors) is still in its early stages of convalescence.

Large fans lay scattered about the first floor, still trying to dry things out, while carpentry and construction teams are working incessantly to repair the damage and restore the lower level of Physical Plant. This includes redoing a vast majority of the drywall, re-circuiting electrical wires, restoring the floors, and replacing all that was lost in the flood. Essentially, the entire first floor is being rebuilt. Meanwhile, everyone at the Plant is still trying to adjust to working in tight quarters upstairs.

Kelsea Raymond, a junior at PSU, has been an office assistant at Physical Plant for two years. She described the state of Physical Plant after the flooding: "There was about four feet of water. All of the desks were flipped over, things were broken, a large refrigerator got swept across the room." Even a week or so after the worst of the flooding was over, she noted that, "there was silt and ground water everywhere, and the whole building had that early-morning pond smell."

With people working long hours at the Plant and the Ice Arena, though, daily operations seem to be less and less affected or impaired. "The water receded quickly, so we were able to get into the building(s) to begin the cleaning process," said Hill. "The fact that we were able to get in so fast helped to limit the damage and enabled us to clean and dry some things before any permanent damage occurred."

Craig Russell, the men's hockey coach, was impressed with how quickly the ice in the Arena was replaced. "There was about a half of an inch of water on top of the ice. It took about three days to fix," he said. The rink was repainted and ready for use on Tuesday, which nicely coincided with the first scheduled captain's practice. "It was just an inconvenience (for us)," said Russell, "but nothing huge."

There are currently no final estimates regarding the repair costs. "We are still tabulating costs, bust most of the damages are in the form of labor for cleaning and the re-making and painting of the ice sheet," said Hill. "We are currently evaluating means to cover costs, such as partial recovery through FEMA. Tuition should not be affected."